


check; a move which threatens the king

by tallboy_benny



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27384211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallboy_benny/pseuds/tallboy_benny
Summary: The queen (♕, ♛); the most powerful piece in the game.(Schlatt holds all the power.)The rook ( ♖,♜); the piece in the game resembling a castle.(The castle stands against him.)The king (♔,♚); the most important piece in the game.(Eret takes a stand.)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), no ❤️ - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	check; a move which threatens the king

**Author's Note:**

> spoiler warning for the election arc!!
> 
> i’ve had this in the works for a little while now, so i’m excited to finally post it! i def have more DSMP wips so hopefully i’ll get around to posting those too :)

Walking along the once-familiar path, Eret can’t help but feel a heavy sense of _wrong_. The walls are entirely gone, scrapes and hollows in the dirt the only sign they’d ever once been there. It’s almost eerie, the openness. He can’t help but keep scanning the area, and his gaze falls on the small memorial he remembers Tommy building for his jukebox. And next to that….the tunnel. Wilbur’s shout when he was shot just before entering the escape tunnel was haunting him- he could’ve done something, stopped whoever fired that final shot, yet all he did was watch in poorly veiled horror. 

He shakes his head slightly- he’s doing something now, and that’s what matters. Eret crosses under the former gate of L’Manberg, his gaze focused on the large white building standing on top of the election hill. 

The White House. 

After giving the order for L’Manberg’s walls to be torn down (and it still is L’Manberg to him, no matter what Schlatt declares), he’d seen Schlatt make his way to the house and leave his new citizens behind. He hadn’t seen the man since.

Perfect. If Schlatt was alone, perhaps this discussion would go much easier. 

Niki’s plan weighs at the back of his mind, but he ignores it for now- it’s her action to take, her revenge to get. As he makes his way up the jagged hill (the charred remains of the election podium giving him a rush of pride as he passes), he makes sure to keep an eye out for areas where it might be smart to place the TNT they’ve been stocking up on.

He reaches the house all too soon. With a sigh, Eret pushes open the heavy dark oak doors, and walks in.

He’s immediately taken aback by the interior- specifically, how _dark_ it is. A scant few redstone torches sit in holsters on the walls, casting their dim red glow ominously on the now-mismatched stone floor. 

“Who’s there?”

Eret pauses at the familiar voice. “Fundy?”

The fox appears suddenly, climbing out of a trapdoor leading into the floor that Eret hadn’t noticed. He must be the one who’d modified the building, then, if the bits of stone and wood shavings covering his clothes and matting his tail are any indication. Fundy shifts slightly, ears flicking back and forth in the way Eret had come to understand meant he was edging towards uncomfortable. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to speak with Schlatt.” 

Fundy shakes his head, brushing redstone dust out of his hair and crossing his arms. “He’s busy.” 

Eret mimics Fundy’s pose. “Too busy to meet with the _king_?”

“Oh, the _king?_ I suppose I could make an exception then,” a voice drawls from behind Eret in reply. He turns around to see Schlatt at the top of the staircase, leaning against the railing. 

“Hello, Schlatt.” 

“Eret.” Schlatt doesn’t nod, doesn’t offer much more greeting than that. “We don’t see you around here much, do we.” 

It feels like a warning- ‘we don’t see you, so stay away’.

“A king has to check on his land every now and then, you know.”

The other doesn’t respond, instead glancing down towards where Fundy is still standing. The fox’s arms tighten across his chest for a moment before relaxing, though in the moment Eret manages to catch a glimpse of an odd outline under his jacket... almost like a book. He shoves that to the back of his mind as Schlatt looks back to him. 

“Thirty minutes, Eret. I’m a busy man.”

It’s better than nothing, and it’s the best he’ll get. Eret makes his way up the stairs.

Schlatt’s already gone on back to his office, so he takes that as his cue to follow. The heavy dark oak door swings open near-silently, swings shut even smoother. Schlatt stands behind his desk facing away from Eret, hands loosely clasped behind his back. In front of him is a massive window, facing the setting sun and casting a reddish-orange glow throughout the room. Standing in front of that window, horns dark against the colors, Schlatt looks more like a shadowed, horned demon than the simple ram hybrid he is.

“Well? The clock’s ticking, Eret.”

Eret snaps out of his thoughts, making a show of glancing around at the room’s bare walls. “I don’t see one, but I’ll take your word for it. And I’ll get right to it- what the hell did you do to my walls.”

Schlatt still doesn’t turn around, and it’s starting to get annoying. “Your walls? I haven’t touched your castle, don’t you worry.” The unspoken ‘ _yet_ ’ hangs heavy in the air between them. 

“You know what I mean. L’Manberg’s walls. The walls I built. The walls that you forced Tubbo, Fundy, and Jack to destroy.” He almost bites his tongue trying to reign in his anger- it had taken countless tools, countless supplies, countless _weeks_ to build. 

“You built that whole thing?” There’s a hint of respect in Schlatt’s voice, but it’s quickly stamped out as he continues. “With the way they looked I woulda thought _Tommy_ built ‘em. ‘Sides, they ain’t yours anymore are they? Haven’t been for a while.”

It almost feels like three consecutive punches to the throat.

One; Eret prides himself on his builds, and from a builder’s perspective (or anyone’s, really, no offense to the kid), but some of the things Tommy creates are absolutely atrocious. 

Two; He doesn’t want to acknowledge it, but politically it _is_ Manberg now. The walls of L’Manberg no longer exist, in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Even had the name remained, Wilbur and Tommy would have been unable to stop the rightfully-elected Jschlatt.

And three; The walls hadn’t been _his_ for a _very_ long time now. Eret knew deep down that he’d given up that claim of his own choice, but a part of him had never wanted to go along with that decision. A part of him had still taken pride in those walls whenever he passed, even though they were now meant to keep him out too.

He doesn't bring any of this to Schlatt’s attention, though he’s sure the man is fully aware of how he’s hitting where it hurts. “You still haven’t answered my question, _Mr. President._ ”

Schlatt shakes his head slightly. His back is still turned to Eret, infuriatingly so. The man is difficult enough to read normally, but now that his face is hidden it’s twice as hard. “Tch, fine. Isn’t it obvious what I did to the walls? I mean, are those glasses you always wear messing with your vision or something? I got rid of them. Like I’ve been saying, it’s a new era.” 

“You didn’t have to get rid of them. L’Manberg’s walls are for protection-“

“ _Manberg_ ,” Schlatt cuts him off with the correction, tone much harsher than previously. “And protection from who? You’re _king_ of DreamSMP lands.“ The title sounds almost mocking coming from him. “They were protecting themselves from _you_.”

And if it had hurt before, it hurt more now.

Eret narrowed his eyes at Schlatt’s back, resisting the urge to reach for the hilt of his sword. “I’m not a threat to them.”

He can practically hear the eye roll in Schlatt’s voice. “Right.” The ram hybrid finally turns around, sharp gray eyes snapping onto Eret’s hidden ones. “Why did you come here? Really, I mean. You’re not here to complain over a bunch of blackstone and concrete, so what gives.”

“You’re destroying L’Manberg,” he says simply, Schlatt’s eye twitching as Eret stresses the prefix. “I don’t care who’s president but I refuse to watch that happen.”

“So is this a threat?” Schlatt’s voice is low, cool, practically edged with steel. 

Eret doesn’t back down. “If you want it to be.”

To his surprise, Schlatt doesn’t yell, doesn’t threaten, doesn’t do anything remotely reactive except...laugh. A soft, amused-yet-patronizing laugh.”Eret, Eret, Eret...you know, I thought you might be on my side. And I thought I wouldn’t have to do this, but, well…” A smirk sharp as netherite.

Schlatt reaches forward on the desk, plucking up a iron chess figure- the king- from its spot on the spread-out map and spinning it between his fingers. He sets it down where it’d come from, then out of nowhere flicks the piece. It flies across the table, knocking over two rooks and falling onto the floor, clattering as it rolls across the stone. Schlatt sets the obsidian queen piece in its place. “Guess you leave me no choice.”

It’s about as clear as day, the message. And though Eret has power, has supplies, has land, the one resource he lacks is enough allies capable of a strong fight. Schlatt has all of the above. 

He opens the door to leave, a hand resting on the door’s side as he turns back to face Schlatt. “I’ll be the first to warn you…” Tommy and Wilbur won’t stay hidden long, and Niki and Tubbo are almost certainly on their side. And Fundy, though a wild card, had trusted him enough to confide in Eret his allegiance. Perhaps he’ll be able to have some allies after all, if Niki can vouch for him enough. Eret lowers his sunglasses, bright white eyes glowing against the darkness seeping in from the window. “You are lining up for a second war.”

Schlatt grins, all sharp lines and shadows. “Maybe I am, Eret. Maybe I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed! please drop a comment or kudos if so, it means the world to me <3
> 
> -em


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